FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT BALINESE - PAGE 5

About 240 fabulous felines traveled with their owners to the annual Hugger Mugger Cat Show held at Hemmens Auditorium in Elgin last weekend. They came not only from Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin but from as far away as Kentucky and Pennsylvania to be poked, prodded, petted and played with by the judges. Among the 33 breeds represented were Birman, Balinese, Burmese, Siamese, Tonkinese, exotic shorthair, American shorthair and the pampered Persians. "It takes about three hours to wash and groom a Persian," said Marian Johnson, a cat show committee member.

At a Lincoln Square coffee shop, Indian dancer Pranita Jain and Balinese dancer I Gusti Ngurah Kertayuda engage in a theatrical mix of hand gestures and eye movements. But this is not a site-specific performance. Instead, the artists are comparing their ethnic dance forms -- from hand movements to expressive eyes that have an intricate vocabulary of their own. Jain demurely unfolds her long fingers into the shape of a bee pollinating a flower, while Kertayuda boldly rolls his eyes and flutters his hands to simulate the Hindu epic, "Ramayana," with its stories of good vanquishing evil.

A new budget accommodation in Bali-the Bali International Youth Hostel-is so new, you won't find it listed in most guidebooks. Bali is a tropical island, about 87 miles by 50 miles, off the east end of Java in the Indonesian archipelago. It is known for a patchwork landscape of terraced rice fields, active volcanoes, sandy beaches, tropical jungle, sweet-smelling flowers and friendly, outgoing people (more than 2 1/2 million are packed onto the island). The International Youth Hostel Federation (IYHF)

On Sunday, Radu Lupu might have been accused of trying to beat Daniel Barenboim at his own game, appearing in concerts that afternoon and evening at Orchestra Hall. The afternoon recital and evening chamber music program, in fact, marked the Romanian pianist's second and third local appearances within the past 12 days. As it turned out, Lupu was one of nine performers taking part in Sunday's concluding program of the weeklong "East Meets West" mini-festival, an event co-presented by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Chicago and the Brooklyn Philharmonic in Brooklyn, with somewhat different programs and personnel in each city.

I was hoping to avoid writing about "Eat Pray Love. " The movie's been out for two weeks, and the book has been out for four years, 184 weeks of which it's been on The New York Times best-seller list. Not that you need to be told, but "Eat Pray Love" (often EPL) chronicles writer Elizabeth Gilbert's post-divorce spiritual quest through Italy, India and Bali. Gilbert, played by Julia Roberts in the film, has appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" three times (most recently with Roberts)

Legian Kuta Bali, Indonesia-Regarding an article by Karen Lee Zinner in the Travel section April 30: Bats and rats-If one does not expect to find bats in a bat cave, one has a problem. To represent the article as a travel article is a disservice to your readers; to your profession; and-most important-to a country which I have been privileged to reside in for more than 10 years. She casually and with great hostility leaves Bali to visit a beach in Java without ever mentioning that she has changed islands, as well as cultures.

Hoppy came to Felines Inc. after someone called the shelter and said, "I hear you like messed-up cats." Hoppy fit the caller's description because she was born with sacral agenesis, which causes limited hip movement. So instead of walking normally, Hoppy hops like a bunny. Felines Inc. took in the year-old cat and is now looking for a home for her. If past performance is any indication, Felines Inc. should be able to accomplish that. The shelter (felinesinc.org) has had recent success with a couple of other "messed-up" cats -- Winnie, a calico born with facial deformities and with very limited vision, and Eary Potter, a 5-year-old Balinese who had lost his ears to frostbite.

Colin McPhee: Tabuh-Tabuhan; Chinary Ung: Inner Voices; Lou Harrison: Suite for Symphonic Strings American Composers Orchestra, Dennis Russell Davies, conductor (Argo). The concept that underlies this intriguing program is the influence of Asian musical styles on the Western symphonic tradition, as reflected in works by one native and two naturalized American composers. The most accessible score is "Tabuh-Tabuhan" (1936) by the Canadian-born American composer Colin McPhee.

If you have ever dreamed of escaping to your own private island, business magnate Richard Branson has one designed for just that kind of bucket list. Necker Island ( neckerisland.virgin.com ) is in the British Virgin Islands, north of Virgin Gorda. Branson bought the 74-acre island in 1978 and transformed it into a luxury resort that opened in 1984. The resort is part of the Virgin Limited Edition collection of extraordinary escapes. An all-inclusive stay provides seven nights' lodging, all meals and drinks and boat transfers from the Virgin Gorda or Beef Island airports.

Olivier Messiaen would have been overjoyed by the opening weekend of the University of Chicago's Messiaen Festival in Mandel Hall, a 10-day feast of concerts honoring the centenary of the great French composer and modernist mystic. Messiaen himself was represented by two minor scores -- his birdsong-derived "Oiseaux Exotiques" and his concise, pungent Piece for Piano and String Quartet, written shortly before his death in 1992. The masterpieces will follow later in the festival week.